In this inventive sci-fi directed by Terry Gilliam, Bruce Willis stars as a volunteer sent back in time to prevent a plague
In this inventive sci-fi directed by Terry Gilliam, Bruce Willis stars as a volunteer sent back in time to prevent a plague.
It's 2035 and most of the Earth's population has been wiped out by a deadly virus with the survivors living beneath the surface. A group of scientists send Willis' reluctant hero to 1996 when the plague began in the hope that he can prevent the virus happening.
However, he lands in 1990 instead and is promptly locked up in an insane asylum, where Brad Pitt is an unbalanced eco-terrorist and Madeleine Stowe is a psychiatrist. Of course no one believes Willis is from the future, but then a series of odd events begin to put doubt into Stowe's mind...
Meanwhile, Willis' search for the sect that started the disaster just gets more and more convoluted - not least when he accidentally skips back into the middle of World War One.
It's a gripping journey and Gilliam produces a visually stunning film that is a beguiling blend of paranoia, suspense and personal quest with a clever final pay-off.
Numbed and crushed by the events piling down on him, Willis' performance has a punishing power and Pitt and Stowe are also excellent.
